A cross-reference of related applications is provided at the end of the Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments section of the present application.
The present invention relates to methods for alerting subscribers to IP telephony services of a communication where the subscribers may be calling parties as well as called parties and for setting up such subscriber altering from a remote site such as a web site.
Present day telephony voice networks have a network built around circuit switches, end offices, a toll network, tandem switches, and a twisted wire pair (forms the subscriber loop between the end office and the subscriber). These voice networks are referred to as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and their services referred to as plain old telephone service (POTS). Due to bandwidth limitations of plain old telephone service (POTS), there is an inherent inability to efficiently integrate multiple types of media such as telephony, data communication for personal computers (PC), and television (TV) broadcasts. New network alternatives include the Internet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode which provide data packet switching to couple end terminals without having to dedicate a specific circuit between the terminals. Individual packets can travel from point A to point B by any appropriate route. Accordingly, a new broadband architecture is required for integrating alternative networks. This new architecture gives rise to a new array of user services. These new services may include and are not limited to including digital audio sound delivery, video conferencing, video telephony, multimedia messaging, conventional CATV service delivery and the like.
Presently, specialized alerting services may be provided for POTS services by preestablishing ringing tone sequences for alerting a specifically addressed caller, for example, Tom may be signaled by two long rings and a short ring in sequence and Mary via one short and one long ring. So-called distinctive ringing provides the opportunity for two lines to share the same subscriber facility. For example, a subscriber may have a facsimile line and a POTS telephone share the same facility but each have their own telephone number. Shared facilities and telephone numbers in POTS services recalls memories of so-called party lines when a number of households were permitted to share the same facility but privacy of communications were lost as any party sharing the party line could listen in on another party""s calls.
Notwithstanding the existence of these special alerting services for conventional telephony, one tendency to date in existent voice over IP (VoIP) telecommunication systems where telephone calls travel via the Internet is to emulate existent telephony alerting arrangements. Alternatively, such alerting arrangements in Internet telephony may comprise signals like xe2x80x9cYou have mailxe2x80x9d or other alerting means different from conventional ringing signals due to the differences between a telephone and a personal computer.
Consequently, there exists a great opportunity to provide new methods and procedures for alerting IP broadband subscribers for multi-media communications including digital audio and digital video.
Aspects of the invention include providing broadband access capabilities or enhanced services for use in conjunction with a packetized network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) based system infrastructure.
Other aspects of the invention include providing one or more of the following either individually, or in any combination or subcombination:
a new broadband architecture;
broadband network capabilities, including local access;
enhanced multi-media services for use in conjunction with a packetized network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) based system infrastructure;
utilizing a SIM card to validate a user associated with a subscriber or off-premises location;
providing users with choices of alerting systems including the conventional PSTN ringing or personalized ringing systems, and enhanced alerting features such as calling party alerting or called party location;
providing remote capabilities for changing alerting and announcement options associated with alerting a subscriber from a remote site such as a web site; and
providing via camera, motion detection, audible detection and the like personal detection means both an alarm capability and a way of determining when a called user is actually not available to take a call and so automatically choosing not to actuate any alerting.
According to the present invention, a method of alerting a broadband user at a first terminal of an incoming multimedia call from a particular calling party comprises the steps of receiving input data at a broadband gateway of user preferences of calling parties, calling party locations, and terminal configuration data for a terminal normally utilized by the user, alerting a called user by utilizing a user-defined alerting scheme, the scheme including identifying the multimedia call as one specifically intended for the user among a plurality of different users and identifying one of the identity or the location of the calling party, comparing the identity or location with said user preferences and alerting the calling party of the priority of the call, the priority of the call including an indication of whether the called party has left instructions for the calling party.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a method of alerting a broadband user at a first terminal of an incoming multimedia call from a particular calling party comprises the steps of receiving input data at a broadband gateway of user preferences of calling parties, calling party locations, and terminal configuration data for a terminal normally utilized by the user, comparing the user preferences with data describing the incoming multimedia call, and, if the terminal normally utilized by the user is not appropriate for the call, alerting the called user to one of moving to another terminal or arranging to equip said terminal so that the terminal is appropriate for the call.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a method of alerting a broadband user at a first terminal of an incoming multimedia call from a particular calling party comprises the steps of receiving input data at a broadband gateway of user preferences of calling parties, calling party locations, distinctive ringing identity of the user and terminal configuration data for a terminal normally utilized by the user, said input data having been transmitted from one of a remote web site, the remote web site having an identification module receiver for receiving a subscriber identity module containing terminal configuration data.
In accordance with a still further embodiment, a method of automatically determining not to alert a broadband user at a first terminal of an incoming multimedia call from a particular calling party, the first terminal being equipped with a user detection system comprises the steps of receiving input data at a broadband gateway of user preferences of calling parties, calling party locations, and terminal configuration data for a terminal normally utilized by the user, comparing an identity of a called party with the output of the user detection system, and choosing not to alert a called user if, from the comparison, the called user is not determined to be available by the user detection system.
Although the invention has been defined using the appended claims, these claims are exemplary and limiting to the extent that the invention is meant to include one or more elements from the apparatus and methods described herein and in the applications incorporated by reference in any combination or subcombination. Accordingly, there is any number of alternative combinations for defining the invention, which incorporate one or more elements from the specification (including the drawings, claims, and applications incorporated by reference) in any combinations or subcombinations.